Job continues his prayer

Life is short and sorrowful

1Life is short and sorrowful

for every living soul.

2We are flowers that fade

and shadows that vanish.

3And so, I ask you, God,

why pick on me?

4There's no way a human

can be completely pure.

5Our time on earth is brief;

the number of our days

is already decided by you.

6Why don't you leave us alone

and let us find some happiness

while we toil and labour?

When a tree is chopped down

7When a tree is chopped down,

there is always the hope

that it will sprout again.

8Its roots and stump may rot,

9but at the touch of water,

fresh twigs shoot up.

10Humans are different—

we die, and that's the end.

11We are like streams and lakes

after the water has gone;

12we fall into the sleep of death,

never to rise again,

until the sky disappears.

13Please hide me, God,

deep in the ground—

and when you are angry no more,

remember to rescue me.

Will we humans live again?

14Will we humans live again?

I would gladly suffer

and wait for my time.

15My Creator, you would want me;

you would call out,

and I would answer.

16You would take care of me,

but not count my sins—

17you would put them in a bag,

tie it tight,

and toss them away.

18But in the real world,

mountains tumble,

and rocks crumble;

19streams wear away stones

and wash away soil.

And you destroy our hopes!

20You change the way we look,

then send us away,

wiped out for ever.

21We never live to know

if our children are praised

or disgraced.

22We feel no pain but our own,

and when we mourn,

it's only for ourselves.